The State of the Venezuelan Opposition (Audio)

What explains Chavismo’s durability? Why, despite routine portrayals of successive Chavista governments as crudely authoritarian and given the calamitous depths of the country’s political and economic crisis, has there been no popular, “democratic” uprising or a landslide shift toward Venezuela’s opposition movement? Certainly the opposition has enjoyed major electoral success and demonstrated a capacity to convoke large-scale protests. Yet it has never maintained the momentum of political change.

In this episode of NACLA Radio, Helen speaks with NACLA Report contributor Julia Buxton, author of "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up," on the current state of opposition to the Maduro government in Venezuela, the tactics and conversation around legitimacy, and the place of groups advocating for the rights of Afro-Venezeulans, Indigenous Venezuelans, women, and LGBTQI people.

Listen to the end for a brief discussion of the Hungarian government’s legislative attempt to shut down the U.S.-based Central European University.

Julia Buxton is Acting Dean and Professor of Comparative Politics in the School of Public Policy at the Central European University, Budapest, where she works on drug policy, Latin America, and policy analysis.

Helen Hazelwood Isaac is a doctoral student in History at New York University and the producer of NACLA Radio. Helen graduated from NYU's Gallatin school in 2015.

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